


An Unexpected Calling

by Dearkei



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Body Horror, Gore, M/M, Mentions of underage drinking, Post-Canon, TWD Comic Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:07:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26039956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dearkei/pseuds/Dearkei
Summary: Charlie makes his way to the school to bring back James. However, James had already made it his new home. James then strikes a deal with him. If he stays a week and it works out, they both can stay. If it doesn't, then James has to leave with Charlie permanently. Now it's up to James and the rest to convince Charlie to stay.The ending will be your choice.
Relationships: Charlie (Walking Dead: Broken Toys)/James (Walking Dead: Suffer the Children), James (Walking Dead: Suffer The Children)/Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Kudos: 4





	1. Lost And Finally Found (Charlie)

**Author's Note:**

> Unfortunately, I had a difficult time picking off who would die post-canon. In this case, all three had survived from the bridge scene. I did compensate a bit though. 
> 
> As for the comic spoilers, I will give a warning before and after.

_“Fuck!”_

Charlie internally yells as his herd was getting taken out one by one by these Looney Tunes™ inspired traps. He kept staggering forward towards the building successfully avoiding all of the traps. With enough terrain covered, he managed to rush off to the other side of the tree before two more walkers who closely followed him were lodged into the side of a nearby tree. He manages to run around the perimeter until he reaches a part of the wall that seemed the least preoccupied. 

He unravels the excessive rope that he wore around his shoulders and back. He starts to carefully swing his homemade grappling rope. With enough momentum, he throws it over the fence and it successfully latches on. After he checks the sturdiness, he pulls himself up over the barrier between him and the people inside. Once he manages to put himself back on the ground, he takes down the rope and slides it back across his torso. He puts himself onto the wall of the shed. He peers around the corner to find that the area is clear. He eyes a burnt down building and sprints to hide behind a crisp corner post. Looking around the corner, he notices there are a few kids wandering the grounds. The person residing on the wall calls out towards them.

“Guys! A little help here?!”

They all take notice and quickly go back inside the building. Charlie looks back at the warden of the school. She’s now too focused on getting rid of his herd as she leaned onto the wooden railing that appears to be barely holding up. This gave him a chance to run directly towards the side of the entrance door and one of the pillars. He takes out his hunting knife and quietly waits for their return. Once the doors open again to reveal three children. Charlie manages to swipe the closest child and bring a knife to his neck. He starts to back up as the other kids notice one of their own was taken hostage. The taller one appeared to be in shock while holding a knife. The smallest one whipped out a gun and pointed it straight at Charlie. Charlie tightens his grip on the boy he had taken as he struggles to free himself. 

“Let my friend go!” The smallest boy takes the safety off the gun, “Or else!”

“Careful, A.J.- He has Willy!” The boy with a large burn mark on his head warned A.J. quietly as if Charlie couldn’t hear.

“Yeah, I have Willy. So be cautious here,” He mocks the two in a sarcastic tone. Charlie glances back at the warden and takes a step forward to avoid the arrow lodged towards him. He glares over at her. She has another one ready. He positions himself to have his back face closer to the wall putting the child in between both inhabitants of the area, “Any others I should be aware of?”

“What do you want with our group?!” The archer shouts out to him.

He calls back to the leader, “This is your group?! A bunch of kids?!” His eyes wander over to the timid boy who seems to be focused on what is past him. Charlie then frees one of his hands to grab another knife as he grips onto the child tighter with his other. He whirls his head around to see who was behind him. Taken aback, Charlie holds his breath for a moment.

“James…”

“Charlie…” James lowers both of his knives, “It’s okay… You don’t have to do this.”

Willy tries to wiggle out of Charlie’s grasp but fails to do so. 

“A.J., he’s not a threat,” James approaches cautiously while focusing on A.J., “Please lower the gun.”

“He wants to hurt Willy!”

“Let me talk to him-”

“No! You don’t understand! You never have! Clem said I can make the tough calls now! She believes in me! Why can’t you?!”

Charlie looks back at James who was undermined by a toddler. His expression falters and he looks away trying to form a counter-argument that would convince him. The James he knew would not give the time of day to debate with someone younger than him. Charlie almost pities him. 

“James,” Charlie calls out to him defeated, “If you get them to put down their weapons, I’ll put mine down. Then we’ll talk.” 

James ecstatic from his solution working calls out, “Everyone put your weapons down! Please!” He motions for the woman on the wall to put her bow down. After seeing her put down her weapon, A.J. follows suit. 

James looks at A.J., “Thank you.”

He turns to Charlie, “Your turn,” He puts his hand out to him. Charlie reluctantly lets go of Willy and puts one of the knives into James’ hand. Charlie pauses and then holds onto James’ hand. 

James shifts uncomfortably, “And the other.”

Charlie puts the other knife in James’ hand. “Thank you,” James gives a soft smile. 

Charlie looks away and not knowing where to put his hands, he squeezes the rope he wrapped himself with and suggests, “Let’s talk. Somewhere else.”

“No way,” A.J. rejects him, “Not til Clem gets here.”

The scarred boy meekly remarks, “I agree with A.J. on this one.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Willy squawks, “A minute ago he was going to kill me!”

James walks over to Willy, “We’ve gone through a lot together and… it’s a habit hard to break.”

“Taking people hostage?!” 

James tilts his head and purses his lips, “We haven’t had the best upbringing, but I’m sure he’ll come around. Trust me. I was able to.”

“Tenn and I will be right back to get her!” A.J. announces to the group, “And if anything happens… she’ll get mad. And you won’t want to see her when she gets mad.”

A.J. and Tenn take off to the tower. James straightens himself and scowls at Charlie.

“What?” Charlie tugs his brows close together, but no one seems to notice since he still has his Walker mask on. 

“Apologize to Willy. You caused a lot of trouble coming here. You have to learn you can’t do that. Not here.”

“Fine.” Charlie agrees grudgingly then towers over Willy saying without a hint of emotion, “My deepest condolences.”

James clears his throat.

Charlie takes a deep breath, “I’m sorry for the whole ordeal I’ve caused.”

Willy gives him the stink eye, “You better.”

Charlie almost closes the gap to chokehold the younger boy, but holds back due to wanting to stay on speaking terms with James. He retorts folding his arms together, “Okay.” 

A.J. comes back with Tenn and Clem tailing behind him. She has a limp walking herself over to the rest of the crowd. Charlie figures that was the reason why she was leaning over the fence. She initially has a neutral expression on her face, but once she takes a better look at him she changes her expression and asks, “Are you Charlie?”

In disbelief of her knowing him, he responds with another question, “How do you know my old name?” It takes him a second to know how stupid that sounded since James said his name out loud to A.J. and Tenn.

“A while back James told me and showed me a picture-”

“Clementine-” James interrupts her in discomfort.

Clementine looks back at James embarrassed by bringing it up without disclosure, “Oh! You didn’t-?” 

“You still have the picture that I took?” Charlie asked doubtfully.

“I do,” James digs out the photograph from his vest and hands it over to Charlie, “It’s too bad I couldn’t fit any other of your photos in here. Since you were always good at taking them.”

Charlie removes his mask to have a better look. He holds the photograph and takes a moment to remember the time when he took it. So much has changed since then. He wishes he could go back. There were a lot of things he would have done differently, but he was sure he would fuck things up in a new way.

“Your hair is way shorter,” Tenn comments as he peeks over beside Charlie. Back then Charlie’s hair was kept above the nape of his neck. It was now down to his shoulders and had half of it tied into a ponytail.

Willy comes beside Charlie’s other side, “James, your hair is much darker here.”

“The sunlight has uh, probably brightened it since then,” James responds to the observation.

A.J. asks, “Can I see?”

Charlie hands A.J. the picture. He felt strange handing over an image of an intimate moment between him and James to someone that recently held him at gunpoint. Couldn’t imagine how the rest of them felt. 

“Wow,” A.J. analyzes the image, “How old were you here?”

Charlie discloses as he takes the photograph back, “Probably twelve or thirteen…”

“I wish I could get a picture of myself. How do you even get one?”

“You need a camera and then someone to press a button to capture the moment,” Tenn informs A.J. 

“Not all the time,” Willy adds, “Sometimes you can add a timer so it can set off by itself.”

“Like a bomb?” A.J. raises a brow.

“Like a bomb,” Willy nods.

Clementine nudges herself back into the conversation, “Guys, can you go back inside? I have to talk to James and Charlie for a moment here.” 

“Okay,” A.J. takes Tenn by the arm and leads him back to the entrance of the building while Willy tags along right behind them. 

As they go out of sight, Clementine returns her gaze to the both of them, “It’s good to finally meet you. I’ve heard good things about you.”

Charlie quickly glances over to James who appears to be uncomfortable then returns his attention to Clementine, “It’s… nice to meet you too.”

“I’m going to cut to the chase here, Charlie. What exactly do you want from us?” Clementine puts her hands on her hips.

Charlie stands his ground and answers, “I came here for James. He’s coming back with me.”

“Woah, Charlie- I-” James puts his hands up defensively, “What makes you think I want to go back?”

Charlie did his best to hide his expression but he was sure James could tell he was distraught by the comment, “You don’t…?”

“I left for a reason. What I told you back then is what I still standby.” James’ eyes dart to the ground.

Furrowing his brows Charlie shifts into a more defensive stance, “So you want me gone then?”

“That’s not it-” James waves his hands, “Listen to me-”

“It sounds like you both should have a private conversation about this,” Clementine interrupts them, “James, did you want to bring Charlie inside and you both can talk in there?”

James sighs in relief, “That’d be great.”

Clementine leads the way inside the hauntingly abandoned school with both men following her inside. The air was tight and less breathable. The dust speckles had danced through the window that shone down on them. She stops in the middle of the hall and advises them, “If you guys need anything, I’ll be in my room.”

“Okay. Thanks, Clementine.” James waves signalling her to leave.

She waves back, “As I’ve told you before, you’re one of us. We’ve got your back.” 

James turns to Charlie and nods his head in the opposite direction, “This way.”

They walk down the chaotic grimy halls that had the occasional graffiti which consisted of mostly vulgar terms. James opens one of the doors and enters the room with two bunk beds and a drawer in between them with a window above. It looked like a default set up for the rest of the rooms in the dorms. Except for the rock sitting on top of the drawer.

“I know it’s not much here. I’m not really used to carrying much with me since I travelled a lot,” James sits on one of the bunk beds and motions for Charlie to join him. Charlie complies and gives him as much distance as he could. James rests Charlie’s knives on the drawer right next to the rock.

“Fair.”

“Do you mind if you give me back the photo of us?”

Charlie realizes he still had it in his hand and passes it over to James. He takes it and positions it on his desk in front of a rock. His eyes linger on the image. “Keeping this picture got me through some hard days. Remembering all the good times we shared together made it seem not so bad.” 

Charlie purses his lips and lowers his brows.

“You know I never stopped missing you, right?” James paused for a moment trying to choose his words carefully, “I thought about you a lot... I wondered how you were doing. How your parents were. How you-”

Charlie interrupts him, “I missed you too.”

“You know what I also missed?” James says in a lighter tone, “The days we used to throw chickens inside tents of other Whisperers and seal the outside so they couldn’t leave.” 

Charlie eases himself as James continues on, “And that time we tried to hide vodka by putting it inside a water bottle and having your dad take a huge swig of it. We were grounded for a while after that, but I think it was worth it.” 

“And uh, the time you gave me a chance to celebrate prom night. With only a cassette player and a few lanterns. It didn’t seem that much, but it really meant a lot to me and I’ll never forget that night.”

Charlie offers a small smile, “I miss those times too.”

“You don’t know how happy I am to see you again,” James is trying to hold back tears with a huge smile.

“Hey,” Charlie inches himself closer to James and hugs him gently. He can’t stand seeing the person he loves cry and he worries he might too, “You’re not the only one.”

James returns the hug squeezing him tighter. They hold each other for a while until Charlie breaks free of the embrace and takes a look at James, “You’ve changed. If you didn’t keep that same mop on your head, I probably wouldn’t have recognized you.” 

“Well, yours is… a bit different. It’s nice.” James gazes at Charlie’s style.

“Honestly I thought you’d look a little more... Dishevelled. Since you lived in the woods by yourself and all. Guess those kids have kept you company for a while.”

“Not uh, as long as you think. I only got here a month ago. Even then, I’ve kept my distance. It was hard to live with others again.”

Charlie frowns at the thought of James isolating himself throughout all those years. Even though James was an introvert and Charlie himself was an extrovert, he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to actively avoid people at all costs the whole time. He was lucky to meet a few good people among the sea of bad ones. It wasn’t easy opening up to newcomers though. He swears that his first impressions with most of them would be the same if they encountered a rabid raccoon. It took time, but eventually, those few managed to break down his walls. As an extrovert, it was killing him not being able to talk to people in a genuine way. Usually, his interactions would consist of mocking others in order to rile them up and have them fall into traps to take their supplies. Charlie was thankful that he was able to make connections with people who respected him. Otherwise, he would have not considered listening to anyone. Including James. 

James tilts his head forward and asks with a concerned tone, “Did Alpha tell you to look for me?”

“I went with the plan we went over back that night. I told her you went missing when a pack of Walkers showed up and brought her your old mask. Looks like your new one has kept up fine.” He eyes the mask hanging on the coat rack, “So you don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

“What about you? Did you stray from the pack?” 

Charlie's eyes are actively avoiding James’, “You could say that.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“After that night I would always think back to you. Despite us parting on okay terms. I still thought about how much more I wanted to say and…live for.”

James tilts his head as he intently focuses on the traveller.

“Seeing you change this much gave me a lot to think about. I know things will never go back as they were before, but I actually thought there might be a chance of making it as close as we had before,” He chuckles nervously, “I’ve had so many existential crises back then. About what I’m actually doing. These thoughts would always come right before we would ambush a community. Seeing that they were able to live out their lives. As if the apocalypse didn’t completely tear out their identities. I know it’s easier to just toss feelings aside, but...is it weird to say I miss dealing with them?”

“No. No, it isn’t.”

“Oh my god.” Charlie shakes his head then tries to hide his expression by putting his chin onto his hands with his fingers hiding his grin and his elbows digging into his knees.

“What’s wrong?”

“This is so sappy. It hurts. Like I’m actually feeling pain from this.”

James gently bumps shoulders with him, “It’s called feelings. Get used to them like the rest of us.”

They both chuckle.

“Even though we’ve lost so much, I see you couldn’t be bothered to lose the snark,” Charlie remarks.

“Had to keep something.” James repositions himself to face him, “Anyways. What did you end up doing- after your struggle?”

“It was a while until I was able to make my decision. You would’ve hated me for this. Probably would’ve dropped me in a second, but I decided to run.” Charlie’s smile died, “I unleashed my part of the herd and was able to run without anyone noticing. It was much harder going back to the camp. Every second being there was a chance of humiliating myself before getting offed’. Anyone would’ve said it was impossible, but… I did it. I managed to pack my stuff and leave.”

**[Walking Dead Comic Spoiler]** ****

“Did you tell your parents? Or anyone else from the group?”

“They were gone soon after you left. I just couldn’t-” He holds himself back, “As for the rest… We were on the losing side of the war that went on and most of them were maimed. I couldn’t do anything about it. Everything went downhill since you left. I took it as a sign. A sign that I needed to get out of there. I was loyal and dedicated my life to them, but there’s a limit. There’s always a limit. You have no idea how badly I wanted to get back at the enemy for what they’ve done... Destroyed... For all the pain they’ve caused...”

James offers a pained expression to Charlie as he continues. 

“Believe me. I’ve tried. I’ve gone over all the possibilities, every single strategy that could work, but…” He heaved a heavy sigh as his shoulders slump, “At the number of people we had left, there was no hope left for the rest of us.”

“I knew you were still out there. I was expecting you to come back, but that day never came. I came out to find you to help get back at them for all the damage they caused. You were impossible to track and completely out of sight. It wasn’t worth asking around since most of the time they’d deny it. Then things changed. All that rage made me lash out at the world. I was directionless and stuck,” Charlie leans into the latter, “I ended up staying with a group for a while. That group… reminded me people could still be kind. At first, I was pretty jealous of them since they went through an easier lifestyle than we did, yet our group died off before they did. I mean eventually, they did as well. When I was with them I had to stop the practice and getting back into it was… was definitely not easy.”

**[Walking Dead Comic Spoiler End]**

“How did you keep your mask if you were wary of your group finding out you used to be a part of the Whisperers?”

Charlie scratches his neck nervously. 

James raises a brow, “...You didn’t say it was a sentimental Halloween mask, did you..?”

Charlie shifts uncomfortably, “I told them that the whisperers took my dad when he turned and that was all I had left of him.”

Wide-eyed again, he looks away, “Wow. That’s uh, actually a really good cover story.”

“They aren’t around so it doesn’t matter anymore. After that, I came across a couple of people who saw you without your mask on. I followed the same route you went- assumed that you went that way and eventually went in circles. When I managed to collect a lot more Walkers than I could handle, I tried to seal them up in a barn,” He smirks and turns to him, “And coincidentally, someone else had the same idea.” 

“With the entrance you made, did you think I was in trouble?” James was puzzled by the events leading up to the moment they reunited.

“No. You’re better than that. I just needed to see the people in the area were actually competent.”

“Competent? Oh wow,” James shakes his head and sneers, “Are you sure you travelled around to find me instead of just reviewing different groups?”

“You got me,” Charlie puts one of his hands on his chest dramatically, “Three stars on the last group. There wasn’t much worth eating there.”

“Were you at a Burger King or what?”

“Hey. They were decent people there. Do you think all that grease went to waste? Made it much easier for a slip ’n slide for the Walkers. Should’ve opened a theme park,” Charlie jokes in a dramatic tone, “Probably would’ve been called Greased Lightning or something with how fast they’d zoom by.”

James couldn’t take the hint, “Did you actually live there?” 

“No. I was in a place way more fortified than Burger King. Trust me,” Charlie replied, “So. What did you do after you left the camp?”

James explained to Charlie about learning the hard ways of surviving by himself. How easily he got sick and the harder it was to scavenge supplies while trying not to be seen by anyone was near impossible. He met up with the odd person on the journey there, but never stayed long. He then went on about how he met Clementine and how he helped her rescue a few of the group members from the Delta. Afterwards, he lost contact with the group for two weeks before bothering to reunite with them again. At first, he would spend a few nights there before going back to the woods to recharge. James began to gradually stay longer periods at a time and eventually felt comfortable enough to stay at the school for good. Although he had only started to feel this way almost a week ago. 

After they caught each other up with their own lives, they both exit the room. Not long after, they bump into Clementine down the hall along with a man with short dreadlocks and a smaller woman with a hunched posture. Charlie puts his cold exterior back on as she hobbles over past the presumably two other residents. As kind and understanding she was, he still could not trust her that easily. Not after what he had gone through. Clementine stops in front of them and shifts her weight to one side, “Did you want a tour of our place?”

Charlie shakes his head, “I’m fine. We should go now.”

Her eyes widen at his abrupt answer and turns to James, “Is that what you really want?”

James looks downwards away from both of them deep in thought for a moment before looking directly back at Charlie with an anxious expression, “This might be a long shot, but hear me out. You could stay with all of us here for a week to see if you like it here. If you don’t then…”

James looks back at his new friends, “...I’ll leave with you and we can find somewhere else to stay. That’s the reason you came here, right?”

The freckled grandiose man behind Clementine walks over to insert himself into the conversation catching James off guard and successfully getting his full attention, “You’re not seriously doing this, are you? You settled here not that long ago-”

Clementine puts a hand on his shoulder, “If that’s what he really wants, then we can’t stop him. He should be free to come and go. He knows he’ll always be welcomed back.” She gives him a warm smile.

James returns his gaze to Charlie with a warmer expression, “Would you at least think about it?”

Charlie mulls the proposal for a few seconds before complying, “Sure. One week. Is your leader alright with that?”

“Yes. If James trusts you, then so do we,” Clementine grins as she leads him to the exit, “Besides, your introduction to the group was pretty similar to mine and A.J.’s.”

“I’ll grab my stuff then. I’ll be back in the evening,” Charlie turns towards the door and puts his mask back on. Before he takes a step outside he looks back at James and says, “See you soon.”


	2. Hospitable Delinquents (James)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since Charlie is staying, he's going to have to get to know everyone at the school.

“This...is it, right?”

While sitting down on the stairway leading to the entrance of the admin building, James sharpens his blades. Too deep in thought to notice the figure in front of him until it says something.

“About earlier,” Louis plops down next to him and lays his arms out onto his knees, “I don’t mind if you don’t want to tell me, but everyone here was wondering about the new person since he did manage to sneak inside our walls and all….”

James stops instantly and encloses his arms that sat on his knees, “We used to live in the camp together a long time ago. We were… close. But when I left, he made the decision to stay behind.”

“Now he’s coming back for you? Guess he couldn’t help it. You’re just that irresistible.”

James chuckles nervously then retorts back, “I don’t know about that...”

“C'mon! You’re so modest! I mean with your Micheal Jackson powers, we probably would’ve all ended up back on the Delta.” 

“Micheal Jackson powers?” He tilts his head a bit at the puzzling comment.

“Y'know? Like,” Louis motions his hands, “Controlling the undead? Or do you use good old classic Voodoo?”

“Oh! Uh, unfortunately, I don’t have either. Sorry to disappoint.”

“Quite the contrary; in fact, I respect your line of work! Just laying down the facts here.”

“You make me sound like some kind of sorcerer or something.” He wishes his mask could materialize onto his face to hide his stupid grin.

“You’re not?”

James finally gives in to the teasing to look back and forth before carefully putting a finger to his lips, “Careful. I don’t need the others to know.”

Louis bursts out laughing, “I knew it!”

James straightens himself up, “Well if you ever want to walk with them, I could show you how.”

“Will I need to wear the latest Walker collection?”

“Maybe strut a certain way and you’re bound to catch their eyes.”

“Are you insinuating I already don’t?” He puts his hand on his chest and pretends to be offended.

“It’s about blending in, not standing out.”

“Then I guess it’s time for me to re-evaluate my morals.”

James shakes his head doing his best to fight his grin but fails to do so.

“Now the real question is-” Louis drops his expression and leans in closer, “Are you alright? With the whole possibly leaving thing?”

“Yeah. Just a little caught off guard. It’s, it’s a lot to take in right now. It just doesn’t seem real, but I’m glad. It’s been too long.”

“Yeah, probably has been! I’d miss my friends too if I lived alone in the wilderness as long as you have!”

“Uh, Louis, Charlie wasn’t only my friend, he-” James locks his eyes to the ground gripping onto his knife and whetstone even tighter. He paused for a mid-second before clarifying himself since it was still hard for him to acknowledge the status of the relationship to others openly, “...was my boyfriend.”

“Oh.” Louis looks even more concerned, “That must have been pretty hard for you then.”

James nods, “Yeah. It was. I’ll be honest here. I cried a lot after that. Which was surprising to me. I thought after being with the Whisperers, I would’ve grown tired of crying. But I was wrong.”

“I never felt so much after I left. I think during that time I didn’t really know what I was doing. Re-evaluating what the group stood for made me leave. Once I left, that was when everything began to set in. I should have known better.” The disgust in James’ tone had grown much louder, “Looking back, I thought about how they thought that it was right for a kid to do these kinds of things. I completely surrounded myself with people who praised such a damaged mindset. And what I let them do to me… All because they told me it was normal. Their kind of normal.”

“That’s a lot to go through, but I’m just glad you made the right call to leave and ended up finding us. Is Charlie planning on bringing you back to your old group?”

“No. He’s not with them anymore. Even if he was I’d-” James stops himself and starts again with a calmer demeanour, “We’re only planning on living together… Somehow.”

“We got your back. It’s just that we worry about you. It didn’t look like you weren’t happy with the decision.”

“I don’t want to leave you guys, but it’s just-” James interrupts himself, “I’m not really sure.”

A rock flies past a few metres past the gate. James jumps up without hesitation and trudges over to the entrance. He sees Charlie with a huge backpack with camping supplies. James greets him with a smile, “Welcome back.”

He opens the gate and waits for Charlie to pass by for him to close it. Charlie analyzes his surroundings as he continues forward towards Louis who remained sitting on the entrance steps. Louis dusts himself as he gets up and walks closer, “Nice to meet you. The name’s Louis.”

“Charlie,” He replies briefly. 

“I can grab your stuff,” James puts his hands out to grab Charlie’s bag, but Charlie dodges his reach.

“I’m used to having to keep my things away from others. I’ll carry it myself for now,” Charlie tightens the grip on his bag.

Louis cuts in, “So Charlie, are you hungry yet?” 

“I’ve brought food,” Charlie puts down his bag and unties the disembowelled badger hanging onto the back of his bag. He lifts it up onto his shoulder and asks, “Can I use that pot?”

Louis waves his hands, “No way. Chef Omar is very particular with his cooking and would not even let us touch his utensils.”

"Okay, then I’ll start a fire here-”

“We were actually planning on making extra food for you tonight so you don’t have to cook anything. I’m sure Omar will appreciate the food you brought over. Although trust me on this one, you won’t go back to cooking for yourself. He has earned his title after all.”

Charlie looks at him skeptically then looks over to James. James gives a reassuring nod, “Louis is right. The first meal I’ve had here, I downed it in a matter of seconds.”

Charlie holds up the dead animal, “Where do you want this?”

Louis points with his thumb, “Over by the pot is fine.”

Charlie goes over to place his hunt over by the cauldron. Louis leans over to James and whispers, “He hasn’t been around people in a long time, has he?”

James whispers back, “The camp really changed him. He’s usually not this distant. It’ll take him a while to warm up though.”

Charlie makes his way back to them, then asks, “Where do you want me to put my stuff?”

“Follow me,” Louis waves his hand over and leads them, “We’re going to get you settled in your own room.”

The group retracts their steps back the way to James’ room. Louis opens the door towards the room across from him, “You can stay here. If you need anything, feel free to ask us or James since he’ll be right across from you.”

“Thanks,” Charlie enters the room and sets his bag by one of the bunk beds. Louis leans on the doorframe as he watches Charlie unzip his bag and digs out his sleeping bag. 

“Omar’s going to make supper soon. Join us outside once you get settled in,” he tells Charlie. Then he lifts himself off the doorframe to leave after he tells him, “Hope you like card games. Because that’s what we’re going to play after.”

James internally slaps his face with his palm. The first time he played with the group almost ended in a disaster. Louis and Willy were overwhelming, to say the least. He was thankful that Clementine was there to prevent them from going overboard. However, she eventually started teasing him during the game. He’d be lying if he said he hasn’t done the same to her.

“Card games?” Charlie turns to James, “Like Poker or Go Fish?”

James holds his left arm with the other hand, “It’s similar to Truth or Dare, but with cards. Or they might play the question game. That’s what they had me play first.”

“Strange,” Charlie focuses back to shoving his bag under the bed and then stands back up, “What’s the question game? Some sort of interrogation tactic?”

“Yes and no,” James backs up as he lets Charlie through. They both meander down the hallway, “They do want to get to know you as a person, but if the questions get too much, I can get them to stop and then they can move on.”

“Thanks. But I think I’m able to handle myself in this case if things go south.”

“Believe me, the most south it’s going to get will just be something embarrassing.”

“What’s the most embarrassing thing they’ve asked you?” Charlie sneers.

“That’s between them and me,” James darts his eyes downwards.

“The kids too?”

“Well- Uh- no.” 

“Oh…” Charlie lifts a brow with a smug expression, “Now you have to tell me.” 

Around the corner of the entrance, Louis and Clementine come through. Charlie immediately drops his expression instinctively again. Clementine goes up to them and mentions, “Omar said we’re having rabbit stew again tonight, so I hope you’re alright with that.” 

“Always,” James says.

The group exits the building and joins the rest on the picnic table. Ruby, Aasim, and Violet are already sitting across from the newcomers. Clementine chooses to sit right beside Violet. AJ and Tenn soon later join at the same end of the table. 

“Guys, this is Charlie,” Clementine motions her hand over to Charlie who was sitting right in front of her. Then motions to the majority of her group, “Charlie, this is everyone...except for Willy. Where is he?”

“He said he was starving when I started making it, so he had his servings before everyone. Including me,” Omar sighs, “The things I do for you all.”

“So when I ask about how long it will take, I get a spoon to the head- When Willy asks for food early, he gets it without any sort of judgement? Does that sound fair to you?”

“I was feeling nice today.”

“I wish you’d have that feeling more often.”

“That’s kind of you to say, Louis. I hope you have better days as well.”

Clementine cuts in the conversation between Louis and Omar to begin the introduction, “This is Omar…”

“Pleasure.” Omar nods his head.

“Beside me is Violet,” Clementine continues as she introduces the rest of the school to Charlie. Finally, she motions over to Louis, “And Louis-”

“We’ve met,” Charlie informs her, “He’s the one that gave me the room.”

Clementine turns to Louis, “Thanks, Louis.”

“No problem!” He fixes his collar on his jacket proudly.

“Where exactly did you come from, Charlie?” Aasim questions him.

Charlie eyes James as he could tell he was unsure about how much information he should share. James jumps into the conversation, “Washington. Same as me.”

“The state or the city?” Ruby inquires.

“The city.”

Charlie manages to twist the conversation and looks over to Louis, “What was that card game you mentioned from before?”

“We’re playing a game tonight?” A.J. asks excitedly.

“You bet, little man,” Louis gives him a wink, “Especially with our new contestant here.”

Charlie props his elbows onto the table and says to Louis, “Bring it.”

“I like his attitude,” Violet comments.

“I can’t wait to play,” A.J. adds joyously.

“Well first off, finish your supper and clean up. Then we’ll play,” Omar instructs the group.

As soon as the group finishes their meals, they clean up the tables. Later, they gravitate over to the couches outside while Tenn and Omar bring their own chairs. Everyone else sits onto the two couches except for James and Charlie. They sit on two separate chairs in between the couches.

Louis shuffles the cards and turns to Charlie, “You know how to play Truth or Dare, right?”

“Yeah,” Charlie confirms.

“Good. That’s what we’re going to play. Except with cards. Highest card gets to ask. Lowest has to answer,” Louis passes the cards over to Ruby and Aasim. Then he passes it over to James. He picks a card before handing it over to Charlie. Once all the cards have been distributed, everyone looks at their card.

“I’ve got the highest!” Tenn waves his card up.

“And I’ve got the lowest,” Ruby admits, “Don’t go too hard on me, little guy.”

“Let’s go with… truth,” Tenn starts, “What did you want to be when you grow up before all the Walkers?”

“As a kid, I wanted to be a farmer. Rile up some animals and start some crops just like my relatives have done. Definitely would have some horses.”

“That’d be so cool,” A.J. comments.

“It would be,” Ruby grins as she grabs the deck to pass around the cards again and everyone checks their own.

“Yikes,” Louis comments, “This doesn’t look good.”

James smirks holding a card in between two fingers showing a king, “Dare.”

“This can’t be good,” Louis shakes his head.

“I dare you… to do an impression on any of us. You pick.”

“Alright. Here it goes,” Louis clears his throat as he drops his euphuistic tone to an apathetic one and hunches over, crossing his arms as he rolls his eyes, “Wooow Louis. You’ve got a real handle on that one... Stop joking around... Girl Hot-”

“I don’t sound like that!” Violet calls out to Louis.

“Then how did you know I was doing an impression of you?” 

Violet scowls at Louis as the rest of the group chuckles. All except for Charlie. She picks up the deck of cards and passes them over to Clementine. Then has her to pass off to the rest of the group.

“Lay it on me,” Aasim lowers his head after looking at his card.

Without hesitation, Omar demands, “I dare you to do dishes for a week.”

“What? You can’t do that!”

Louis shrugs at Aasim, “Them’s the rules.”

The fourth round is brought upon the players. A.J. almost leaps upon his seat, “I’ve got the highest!”  
James looks down at Charlie’s card and finds that he had the lowest. Charlie confesses, “I’ve got the lowest.”

“Oh! Uh,” A.J. thinks out loud before he comes to a conclusion on what to ask him, “Violet and Clem mentioned this one before! I think it’s marry, flip, or kill! Right?”

James is mortified. The first time Clementine answered this question, she never heard the end of it. The school even bugged her about it after James had joined and even questioned his thoughts on how she chose to “marry him”. He had to tell the group that she wasn’t his type, but didn’t dive further into past that. He regrets clarifying why, but he figures there will probably be another time to do it. He figures the group probably won’t let Charlie off the hook because he is new.

“Yeah,” Tenn confirms, “You get to choose which three he has to pick out of.”

“Okay. Huh,” A.J. looks around at everyone until he gets a sense of who Charlie’s options, “...Louis, James, or Violet.”

“No way,” Violet rejects A.J.’s suggestion, “I don’t like guys in that way, not to mention I’m with Clem. He’ll have to kill me off before choosing the other two options. Try again, A.J.”

“Then I’ll pick Louis, James, and…”

James glances over to Charlie and sees him grow uncomfortable with the fate of his first impression and relies on an answer to a toddler’s question. Charlie looks back at James painstakingly. The only people who were aware of their past relationship were Clementine, Violet, and Louis. He was not going to tell the group now the fact that they’ve dated each other since they were kids and had actually considered getting married at one point.

“Who’s that Justin guy that’s mentioned on the walls? Can I pick him?” A.J. wonders.

“He’s gone, however- knowing his thing with Walkers… we’ll include him this time,” Violet lays back.

“So James, Louis, and… Justin,” Ruby says to Charlie, “Sorry, we’re out of girl options here. Unfortunately, it’s only the three of us left and all of us are in a relationship.”

“Right. Well, this has been fun,” Charlie gets up from his seat and walks off from the circle back inside the school. 

“...Was he really that upset about the options?” Ruby looks over back to James.

“That’s not it- You guys can keep playing. I’ll be right back,” James pursues Charlie and manages to catch up to him. He reaches out to his shoulder to get his attention, “Char-”

Charlie swats his hand away, “I’m just tired.”

James retracts his hand and stops in his tracks. Charlie looks back at James’ hurtful expression and pauses before saying, “I just need to be alone for a while.”

“Well… Please come talk to me if you need anything,” He gives his classic puppy dog eyes that used to make Charlie melt. James wasn’t sure if that method still worked on him.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Goodnight, James,” Charlie turns back to go to his room.

“Goodnight, Charlie.”

He meanders back to the group and returns to the same seat he had before. A.J. asks with a disappointed expression, “Where’s Charlie?”

“Gone to bed. I think he had a rough day and needs some rest.” 

“Sounds like a good idea. I think I’m going to go to bed in a few more rounds,” Aasim yawns, “I didn’t get much rest last night.”

“Well in the meantime, I hope we can make tonight’s game memorable,” Louis grabs all the cards that are laid out and shuffles them.

They continue the game a little more past a few rounds, but eventually Aasim and Ruby opt-out. Violet adds herself to the list as well, “It was fun while it lasted. I think it’s time for me to go now. Goodnight, guys.”

“Same here. Goodnight,” James puts his card back onto the crate. The group all wish them the two goodnight before they make their way back inside.

“Sorry ‘bout what happened back there with Charlie,” Violet mutters, “That must’ve been really awkward for him.”

“Yeah,” James agrees, “A.J. couldn’t have known. I guess I could have told him. I just… didn’t feel like it was the right time.”

“A lot of things never feel like the right time, but I know once you feel comfortable explaining it to him he’ll understand. He’s a smart kid.”

“You’re right. I might explain it to him tomorrow.”

“At the same time, we could bring Charlie fishing with us. He’s kinda glued to you right now which makes sense, but might be hard to explain it when he’s nearby. I think a one-on-one conversation would be better.”

“Thank you. I think he’d appreciate that. He doesn’t have anyone else anymore so it’ll be nice for him.”

“No problem. Anyway, I’m going to bed now. Night, James.”

“Goodnight, Violet.”

James goes to knock on Charlie’s door to make sure he was alright, but stops himself. He figures that he has done enough and if he might end up suffocating him. He decides to retire to his own room. He grabs his supplies and readies himself to go to bed. He rests his eyes for a few minutes before drifting off. 


	3. Quite The Catch (Louis)

“Is James coming along?” Louis asks while planting his hands on his hips underneath his long coat.

Violet replies, “He’s busy helping Clem and A.J. today. He won’t be free until later.”

Louis looks over to Charlie, “Guess it’ll just be us then. C'mon,” Louis swings the battered chair leg with nails over his shoulder.

Violet adds, “I think we’re forgetting something.”

“Right!” Louis turns to face Charlie, “Charlie meet Chairles! Heh. I did not realize the similarity with the names until now.”

Louis looks back and forth at the two of them. Charlie gives an unamused expression to the introduction as Violet pipes up, “I didn’t mean introducing your stupid chair leg to Charlie! I meant we’re forgetting the bucket.”

“Right! I have it right over here!” Louis exclaims as he walks over to retrieve it. He returns to the fishing crew and opens up the gates.

Violet tells Charlie, “Hey. I hope it’s alright with you if you come with us. You don’t have to, but I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be bored or anything.”

“It’s fine. I haven’t had fish in a while anyways.”

“Do you know how to spear a fish?”

“I haven’t done it before,” Charlie admits.

“We can show you,” Violet tells him.

After a few seconds of silence fills the air, Louis decides to break the ice, “What did you like to do before the whole… y'know?”

“Is this the game where you interrogate me?” Charlie asks Louis.

Violet snorts as Louis is taken aback. He clarifies, “No, we just want to get to know you better. Unless you want to make it a game?”

“How so?” Charlie slightly tilts his head.

Violet announces her idea, “Each time we catch a fish, the winner gets to ask anyone a question.”

“No fair, Vi,” Louis shakes his head sternly knowing her deception, “You know you’re the best at it. Even when- y’know.”

Louis refrains from mentioning her permanently damaged eye that changed her depth perception. At first, she was frustrated she couldn’t catch anything, but once she kept going out fishing every single day, she gradually got better. She improved, but she isn’t as good at it as she was before. 

Violet retorts, “Duh. I don’t see you coming up with any other options.”

“...You’re right,” Louis pouts, “Fine, we’ll play your game.”

“And too bad you’re about to lose.”

As they make their way towards the shack, Louis tells Charlie old stories of his and Marlon’s shenanigans. Whenever Violet found out she would typically advise them from going through with it, but they would ignore her and do it regardless. Violet would occasionally laugh or groan listening to each story. Eventually, they make it over to the stream. Louis plops the bucket down right near the edge beside Charlie.

“I’m going to grab the spears. Be back,” Violet leaves them to enter the cabin.

Once she returns and passes the spears to everyone, she positions herself right on the edge beside the creek, “What you want to do here is put your spear up and when the fish swims in your direction, go in for the strike of where you think it’ll go. Since they’re swimming against the current, it makes it much easier. Watch this,” She waits ten seconds before a fish comes across her path and she stabs it with precision. She rips the fish from her spear and throws it into the bucket.

“Now you try,” Violet motions for Charlie to follow suit. He mimics her posture and watches intently as the fish swim by. He strikes the first one he comes across, but misses by only a few centimetres, “Close one. Try again.”

After he waits for the next fish, he aims carefully making the catch a success. He slides the fish off the blade and lets it join Violet’s catch. Louis remarks, “Good eye. First time I came out here I wasn’t able to get a single one.”

“Since I caught mine first, I get to ask the first question,” Violet rests her spear on her shoulder, “This one is for Charlie. Out of the three of us, who do you think will die first?”

“Is this going to be a common question for every new person?” Louis looks at her in disgust.

“Definitely,” Violet smiles.

Charlie looks at both of them and responds after a few seconds, “Louis.”

“Yeah,” Violet and Louis agree.

Charlie turns to Louis with an eyebrow raised then Louis explains, “I would have said the same thing. Let’s just say that I’m not proficient in the whole survivor lifestyle by myself.”

Charlie bobs his head in acknowledgement of Louis’ response. He then asks, “Since I caught one, does this mean I get to ask the next question?”

“Yeah, have at it,” Violet approves.

“This one is for either of you. How long have you guys lived inside that building for?”

“Forever. Since we were dropped off as kids; we’ve stayed put this whole time.”

Puzzled, Charlie asks, “And no one has come across any of you?”

“That’s another fish you’re going to have to catch,” Louis points out.

“Let’s have Louis have a go at it now. It’s only fair,” Violet claims.

He misses four times until Violet pokes the one that slipped his grasp. Louis sighs, “Alright your turn again.”

Violet gives a sly smile, “Charlie, what do you think about James’ philosophy?”

Louis watches Charlie process the question and he takes a moment to respond, “He… has an interesting look on it, though I have yet to see it be proven. The reason we separated was because of it.”

“You think he’s absolutely bonkers?” Violet assumes. 

Charlie gives off a glare at her comment and defensively retorts while trying to remain calm, “I’m not saying that. It’s just still hard to understand him. Something happened back at the camp that really changed him. It’s as if he did a 180 on his personality.”

“What was he like before?” Louis blurts out.

“That’s another fish,” Charlie mimics Louis’ statement made before.

“Now you’ve got the hang of this game,” Violet chuckles then points to the fish frantically swimming upstream with her spear, “There’s one coming right up.”

“Got it, ” Charlie manages to pierce through it in one go and dumps it into the bucket, “My turn. What happened to both of your guys’ fingers?”

“Straight to the point,” Louis waves his spear as he can imagine how hard Violet’s eyeballs roll at his pun. Louis feels the phantom ring finger as he tries twitching the empty space. He could feel self-conscious from the split down the middle of his tongue as well from when they sliced it to teach him a lesson, “Back to your question before. A group did come across us and it didn’t end well. With them and us.”

“They tried to teach us a lesson, but we taught them something better. Don’t mess with us,” Violet deadpans.

“Good to know,” Charlie nods and goes to look back at the creek. There weren’t any fish left. The three sit down and wait patiently for a few minutes until the next fish arrives.

“This one is mine,” Louis picks himself up and it takes him two tries before catching it, “We don’t mean to pick on you so much, but I’ve lived with Vi for years, so I know a lot more about her than I should.”

“What’s your question?”

“What was James like back at the camp? He’s usually hesitant to talk about it and gets upset.”

“Not like how he is now. Seeing him deal with one of the kids was surprising. I’ve watched him kill someone who disagreed with him before. He’s never had the time to deal with people who weren’t following orders. And he never showed this much emotion in front of the other Whisperers. He almost always looked so serious.”

“Must’ve been strange to see him now like this.”

“He was starting to doubt things back at the camp, but it’s still weird to see him like this,” Charlie leans back, “Though it’s good to see him almost like the person he used to be before we joined the Whisperers.”

They continued the game with more generic questions until they had caught enough fish for the whole group. They make it back with what they have all caught. Violet and Charlie carry the buckets back to the school. They are all greeted by Willy and Omar. Omar opens the gates for them and closes it back.

“Finally!” Willy makes his way down the tower to open the gates. 

Violet and Charlie drop the buckets right by the cauldron as Louis ruffles Willy’s hair, “Patience, little dude,” Willy makes an annoyed expression before running off in retaliation.

Louis sees James come out of the building to talk to Charlie along with Clementine and A.J. They appear to be happy he’s back. Violet saunters over to Louis and bumps him with her shoulder playfully and tells him, “Thanks for chilling him out. It seemed like he had a stick up his ass the whole time. To be honest, James needed to explain the situation from yesterday to A.J. and I thought it’d be easier if he explained it himself.”

“Ah. Yeah. A.J. felt really bad about it. But it looks like he’s better now,” Louis watches A.J. laughing as James picks him up and places him onto his shoulders.

“Let’s see how they’re doing,” Violet motions to the cluster by the entrance. Louis trails behind and they greet them.

“Hey guys, everything went alright out there?” Clementine asks and embraces Violet.

“Oh yeah, Charlie here is a natural,” Louis fixes his lapels, “I’m sure Vi will have some competition here pretty soon.”

“What makes you so sure about that?” Violet crosses both of her arms, “What happened to ‘you have perfected the art of catching fish’?”

“Charlie has always been better at hunting than I have,” James added, “He’s able to catch on fast.”

“There are still some Walkers roaming around the area. I’m going to lead them out,” Charlie immediately excuses himself from the circle, “Might take a little while.”

“Did you need any help?” Clementine offers.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve been doing this for years,” Charlie slips his mask back on and turns to leave the grounds.

As soon as Charlie is out of sight, Louis makes the observation, “I take it compliments aren’t his thing.”

James turns to face Louis as he puts A.J. back down beside Clementine, “Mind if I speak with you for a moment?”

Louis jolts a bit. Nervous at what may come in store and he insecurely gives out his answer, “Sure?”

James leads Louis to the inside of the school and onto the staircase of the corridor. They both stand right in front of the large windows that shone through the dim building. James looks outside with his arms crossed tightly. Louis knows this is going to be a serious talk and it most likely won’t be good news. It barely is. Louis meekly questions James as his heart starts racing faster, “So, uh. What did you want to talk about?”

“I wanted to thank you for including Charlie. He used to be so friendly and loved making friends. But that was a long time ago.”

_This is going to turn out bad, isn’t it?_

“I really appreciate you guys for giving him a chance. And… for me as well. I lost my faith in Clementine and A.J. after we took down the Delta ship. She promised me he wouldn’t become a killer. But since she made him kill that woman, that’s what made me give up on her. I even tried to take A.J. away. I just thought I could take on that role better than her since she’s taught him what kids his age shouldn’t know. I tried to show him that life had more meaning and it shouldn’t be thrown away so carelessly. That every person should get a second chance. I tried so hard that- that I ended up scaring them. Especially Tenn. I didn’t see him for the first few days when I came back to the school. Everyone knew something happened. But they never seemed to know what happened. I didn’t want him to become like me. All I want is for nobody to become who I used to be. I’m trying to change myself, but… I’m scared it’ll slip out again and I might end up hurting someone else,” James notices Louis staring straight at him and looks back outside nervously, “I’m sorry for rambling. I haven’t bothered asking how any of you felt about this.”

“It’s fine. Trust me. It’s great to hear that you feel comfortable enough to talk to me about this. Before you were by Clem’s side most of the time and it was hard to interact with you one on one. And if not then, you’d usually get exhausted easily afterwards,” Louis taps his fingers on the dusty rails, “Which wasn’t a bad thing. I get you. But I enjoy that we can have serious talks now. Everyone besides Clem never wants to have one with me. I know I’m the comedy relief of the group,” Louis leans all of his weight onto the rail and smiles at James, “But it’s nice to see that it’s not all you see of me. I hope at least.”

James smiles back, “Louis... You have so much to offer to everyone. There’s nothing wrong with having a positive outlook on things. I think it’s really nice that the school has someone like you around.”

They both gaze at each other for a moment before James breaks eye contact as he hears a creak in the floorboards behind them.

Aasim walks up the stairs making an entrance with his notebook in one hand and his pen in the other, “Hey. Once Charlie is done clearing the area, we should check our traps.”

“Good idea,” James agrees, “I can set up more if you’d like.”

“That’d be good. Thanks, James,” Aasim mentions.

“Anytime,” James straightens up himself and looks over to Louis, “Do you want to help me before he comes back?”

“Yeah! That I can do.”

“Are you seriously feeling productive today, Louis?” Aasim asks with a hint of doubt.

“I can be productive! I just happen to like living life leisurely to help keep my sanity.”

Aasim sighs, “I just hope that feeling becomes more consistent since Winter is coming up and we don’t have a lot of time left.”

“I know. That’s why I’m going to help James here.”

“I’ll be doing the dishes now. Once I’m done, we’ll head out to meet Charlie,” Aasim goes back down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

“Got it,” Louis affirms Aasim. 

Once they are alone again, James pipes up, “Thanks for hearing me out. It’s nice having someone like you around that I can be honest with.”

“Always a pleasure.”

“Wanna make some more traps before Aasim finds us again?” James suggests. 

“Sure. Lead the way,” Louis gestures for James to go ahead of him. 

They go down to the supply closet and grab resources then work on the traps on the tables outside. After putting a few together, Aasim comes by and leads them out to regroup with Charlie. Eventually, the hunting team encounters Charlie limping towards them. As Aasim raises his bow and arrow, James places his hand on Aasim’s arm to lower it. Charlie returns to his usual way of walking and moves quickly over to the group.

“You have them all rounded up?” Aasim asks.

“No,” Charlie shakes his head, “The barn door has been broken into.”

James widens his eyes at the news and panics, “What happened?! Did you see anyone do this? How many Walkers are left?”

“There was only one left by the time I got there. I got a few ones around the area rounded up back inside the barn inside the pens. I couldn’t find much evidence on who could’ve done this,” Charlie puts his hand on his chin and uses his other arm as leverage.

“What do we do now?” Louis questions both ex-whisperers. 

James folds his arms and purses his lips as he tries to think of a solution, “First we should fix the doors. Then round them back into the barn. Then we’ll need to look into how it happened.”

“I didn’t get much of a look at how it was broken into. I’ll go back and check it out.”

“I’ll come with you,” James slips his mask on.

“I can help,” Louis adds.

“It’s dangerous. You could easily get hurt,” James rejects the idea.

“I know, but the same goes for you both. I think you might need more help in this case. I could even be a distraction for the Walkers,” As much as Louis hates his suggestion, they may have to come to it.

“What about gathering food?” Aasim inserts himself back into the conversation. 

“When there is a herd of Walkers on the loose in the forest?” Louis shrugs, “Sounds pretty deadly if you ask me.”

Aasim goes to conjure a rebuttal then changes his mind, “Fine. Then what do you propose?”

“Warn the others in case whoever has done this finds the school. We have to be careful,” Charlie warns him. Aasim agrees to Charlie’s plan and walks back towards the school.

James questions Louis in a concerned tone, “Are you sure you want to come with us?”

“Of course! You may need an extra hand in fixing those doors anyway.”

James looks over to Charlie and he agrees, “He’s right.”

Charlie looks back to Louis and advises him, “Just make sure you’re alert and hidden for now, got it?” 

“Aye aye, sir,” Louis jokingly salutes to Charlie.

James puts on his mask then tells them, “Let’s go.”

They make their way over to the barn to see the roughed up broken doors leaning on the doorframe. Charlie motions them to stay behind the bushes as he emerges. He inspects the area and once he reaches the barn, he gestures for the rest to come over. As Louis was about to follow suit, James holds Louis by his chest to prevent him from moving forward and whispers, “Not yet.”

Louis obeys and stays put while James makes his way over. James picks up a spare rock around the corner and throws it outside the barn in the opposite direction from where Louis was currently hiding. Charlie goes back to limping and leads the herd towards the area it was thrown to. James stays behind until the last of them are all outside. Then he waves Louis over to the barn. After Louis scurries over, James leads him over to the ladder. As Louis almost reaches the top, his foot slips from one of the bars. He falters a bit away from the ladder before James instinctively catches him by the collar and helps haul him up onto the second floor.

“I’m sorry. I’ll see about fixing the ladder after we get the doors back on,” James shamefully apologizes as he lets go of Louis’ collar with his eyes lingering on it, “I didn’t mean to put you in danger already-” 

“Don’t sweat it,” Louis tries to ease James and gives out his advice he didn’t necessarily follow himself, “We’ll work on this one step at a time.”

“Speaking of which… I may have spare pieces here. Let me check,” James hauls the hay bale to the side and reveals the toolbox left from the previous owner. 

A shiver goes down Louis’ spine as he hears a noise. He puts a hand over to James’ shoulder to point it out. James pauses immediately. The both of them then carefully peek over to where the source was. Luckily, it came from a middle-aged man that was looking the other way and didn’t seem to notice their attention analyzing the scene from his eye level. With enough reference to go off from, they lower themselves back down. Mere inches away from Louis’ face, James instructs quietly, “We have to hide.”

Louis connects the man with the incident and matches James’ tone to ask, “Why do you think he’s taken them? Is he a Whisperer?”

“No. It doesn’t seem likely. We typically keep our masks on unless we know it’s safe. He would be too foolish to take it off now,” He stares intently over the edge, “He’s coming this way.”

James goes over still crouched down towards the hay bale and ushers Louis over, “Get under here.”

Louis takes a second to figure out if it will really cover both of them, but the steps of the stranger coming closer manage to convince him. He digs through to make room and positions himself inside the pile along with Chairles. As James wipes dust over the top of their footprints, Louis makes room for James to lay down with him. James keeps dusting the trail left behind until he makes his way to the hay. He sits beside Louis and pats the hay bile over top of both of them. Once they are covered head to toe, they reposition themselves to blend in as much as they could. Not long after, the man-made his way up the latter.

Louis holds his hands covering his mouth and nose to prevent himself from making too much noise. As well as preventing the stench from James’ mask fill his nostrils. James slides his hand behind himself to ready himself, Louis figures that he felt the need to be prepared for anything. 

Heavy footsteps paced around the area carefully. He makes a few stops to check different places. One of those stops happened to be in front of the hay bale which makes Louis’ heart nearly jump out of his chest. The man lightly brushes the hay in a vacant area before he saunters back to the ladder and goes down. He mutters to himself in a gruff manner, “Waste of time.”

James sits himself back up and hesitantly peers over to check the coast. He then stands up and brushes himself off a bit before he puts his hand out to help Louis get back to his feet. He advises Louis in a worried tone, “We need to warn Charlie quickly.”

“You know where he is?” Louis picks up Chairles and rests him over his shoulder.

“Unfortunately no. Although it shouldn’t be too hard to track him down.”

“Do you think we should follow that guy who probably let the Walkers out?”

James shakes his head, “It’s too dangerous. We need to group up and figure out a plan.”

“Yeah. You’re right,” Louis shifts uncomfortably, but tries his best to be optimistic, “We’ll get through this. I believe in you.”

Despite James’ obvious expression of worry, he tells Louis, “Thank you.”


	4. Facing the Consequences (James)

They exit the barely standing barn and look around the area for any signs of Charlie or where the intruder went. Unfortunately, they were unable to find any signs for either of them. James points out, “There’s a clear path over there. Charlie most likely would have gone through here.”

“And if he didn’t?” Louis wonders.

James shrugs, “That’s the chance we’re going to have to take.”

As they head forward onto the trail, they come across a couple of Walkers. James advises, “I’ll start collecting. Keep a safe distance from me. I need you to keep watch to see if there’s any more around us.”

“Sure thing!” Louis stops in his tracks to let him go forward.

He picks up the nearest rock that he can find and throws it in the direction they were headed. Successfully gaining their attention, they turn to where the rock landed. He then mimics their movement and gradually makes his way past them to direct them onwards. Eventually, James sees a figure crouched down in the distance. The figure then stands back up and walks away with stealth from the several Walkers in the area. 

James sneaks over back to Louis and proposes, “Change of plan. I don’t think we can avoid the man from before. I can try to distract him. But it will be hard to round the Walkers back again. I have an idea.”

“Does it involve Walker guts?” Louis asks in disgust, “I just got the bloodstains out of my jacket.”

James shakes his head, “It won’t. I promise.”

“What’s your idea then?” Louis puts his hands on his hips.

“You’re going to have to wear this,” James unties his mask and slips it off to pass over to Louis, “It’ll mask your scent.”

“What about you? Since you’ve come to the school you’ve- uh,” Louis purses his lips deep in thought on how not to offend James despite him being aware of what he’ll say.

“I know. I’m glad I came back to the school. I feel fresher than from the time I lived in the woods by myself,” James admits, “After a while from living with the Whisperers though, I got used to the scent. I forgot that it can be kinda... smelly.”

“Kinda?” Louis raises both brows.

James corrects himself, defeated by the comment, “Definitely smelly.”

“How are we going to get over there then?”

“Keep the mask. I have my own way. Trust me.”

Louis’ expression turns doubtful as he takes the mask from James’ hands.

James adds, “They won’t harm you as long as you have the mask. And I’ll follow you.”

As Louis slips the mask over his face, James reminds him, “Observe their movements so they believe you’re one of them.”

Before Louis could take a step forward, James halts him to tie the backing for him, “And try to keep silent. No matter how scared you are. I’ll be right behind you.”

Once James ties the last end, he assures him, “Go now. It’ll be okay.” 

Louis staggers a bit to mimic the movements. Eyeing down a stray Walker, he stalks it before taking their attention to him. Once it limps up to Louis, he lessens his pace in order to move beside the animated corpse. Meanwhile, creeping up towards it, James pulls out both of his knives. Once Louis finds out James was sneaking up from behind, James gives him a reassuring nod before stabbing the Walker onto the back of their shoulders. It gives out a weak cry and struggles as they try to get out of James’ grasp. James then pushes the Walker forward as cover. Despite the Walker being taller than James, at least it was much frailer than him. 

After passing a couple of Walkers, they happen to spot Charlie crouching behind a bush. He creeps a few feet closer over to the two then motions them to go lower themselves down and presses his index finger onto his lips. Both James and Louis comply as they go towards him. 

A bullet flies above James and misses him by a few centimetres. He drops to the ground backwards landing onto his lower back and elbows from the unexpected blow. He scurries up back onto his feet while keeping a low profile. He checks to see the result of the damage and finds a small hole lodged into their head. James gives himself a bit of time to mourn the person and says with regret in his whisper, “I’m sorry.”

James then flips the lifeless corpse over onto their stomach and removes the knives lodged in their back. He then quickly catches up to both of his friends. Charlie pushes his fingers through the bush delicately and nods his head over to James to look in. James does what he implies and peers through. It revealed a small campground that consisted of three tents surrounding a burnt-out campfire and a woman cradling her rifle, who seems to be busy looking around the area. 

Charlie grumbles, “I’ve lost some here in the area and these two have already taken out five of them. Good thing they missed you.”

"Where’s the other one?” Louis pokes his head closer scanning the area.

“He’s around the corner behind the tent. I can’t tell if he’s a teenager or an adult-”

“Wait- isn’t there another?!” Louis pulls back and asks Charlie, “Like an older dude?”

“Not that I’m aware of...” Charlie leans closer to both of them, “James, I’ll need you to scout out the area in case there are more. And Louis I’ll need you to try to bring Walkers this way.”

“It’s not that simple-” Louis shakes his head.

James denies, “No way. We’re not sacrificing all the Walkers just to kill these people.”

Charlie retorts, “You think I’m only doing this for myself? I’m doing it for all of us.”

“There’s another way of figuring this out-” Louis crouches back slowly as the two bicker.

Charlie cocks his head, “Alright. What’s  _ your _ plan then?”

James narrows his brows due to Charlie’s tone with him, “We need to speak with them. They could be from another group.”

“Who happens to be around when the barn got broken into?” Charlie comments, raising a brow.

“It looks abandoned from the outside. They could have been mistaken. Maybe broke in without realizing there were Walkers inside. Most of us do desperate things in desperate measures.”

Charlie makes an uneasy expression, “Let me propose to you this then.  _ You _ bring the Walkers, I scout the area, and Louis will be the one to talk to the group since he’s the one who’s the most… non-threatening. Then we take them on.”

Louis is baffled, “Oh I can be very threatening.”

Charlie sarcastically orders, “Change of plan. Louis will swing those people like baseballs and then we’ll all be safe.”

James makes a deadpan expression as Louis goes along with Charlie’s joke, “All the way back to the Delta base. Call that a homerun.”

Charlie huffs at the joke before James pleads, “We have to go with our second option here. It leads to less bloodshed. Please…”

“We can do this, right?” Louis turns to Charlie.

“I’ll need you to round up the herd again if things go south. Since we gotta do this now,” Charlie scowls over to James.

“Now?!” Louis exclaims in a hushed tone, “What do I even tell them?”

James tries his best to make out a clear explanation, “I… You’re the best at this kind of stuff. Better than me or Charlie. If you want to leave, you can now. We’re both used to this.” 

Charlie pipes up, “James, we can use your peaceful method or whatever, but I have a better idea since I know how these kinds of things usually pan out. We’ve been going in circles with ideas, but this is something I think we can both agree on.” 

Intrigued, James asks, “What is it?”

“Louis can round up the rest of the Walkers since he’s the one wearing your mask. Meanwhile, we ambush them. But only taking their weapons. After that we mention it’s our turf and we can let them off with a warning. So they can either leave us alone or… we use my usual method. We have to protect those kids back at the school one way or another.” 

“...Fine,” James frustratingly gives in as he’s tired from fighting for his suggestion as well. Full well knowing he hasn’t been successful in convincing his own opinions to others in a long time. He hopes that could change. He looks over to a worried Louis and softens his expression, “I’m sorry to put this much pressure on you, but… I trust you can do this. Maybe you don’t, but I do. Even if it’s your first time learning to walk with them. You can always let us know if you’re in trouble, okay? Give off a signal like…”

Louis offers, “Whistling?”

James gladly supports his answer, “Yes. Whistling would work.” 

“You can count on me then.”

“Good to hear. Keep in mind to keep your distance from the campsite.”

Charlie and Louis go their separate ways to execute the plan. James realizes that he is out of the vicinity of any stones that could cause a distraction with. He’s able to spot a tin can in the distance and sprints by to grab it. He retreats behind one of the bigger trees and throws it in the opposite direction of Charlie and Louis behind their tents. It goes flying past some bushes and lands against a tree trunk. 

The residents of the campground turn their heads over to the sound. The woman suggests to the man to go over and take a look at what made the sound. James takes this chance to close in on the woman from behind the tents. As she has her back turned to him, he quickly puts her into a chokehold with both knives on her. One on her jugular and the other on her stomach. He whispers, “Drop your weapon.”

She hesitantly complies and drops her rifle. He adds, “And anything else concealed. Everyone carries a knife nowadays.”

She huffs before taking her hunting knife out of the sheath from the front of her belt. James asks, “You sure that’s all of them? Because I will check if you don’t confess.” 

“Fucking hell,” She mumbles as she takes out another knife from the inside of her jacket. He slightly maneuvers to kick the weapons out of her range. 

“Thank you,” He’s relieved that so far she has been compliant, but he knows that could easily change soon, “There’s no need to cause any more bloodshed.” 

The man comes back to find that James has the upper hand in the situation despite him not wanting it to go this far. He was never great at planning ahead in stressful situations. The man aims his gun directly at James. 

The woman belts out, “He’s a Whisperer! He’s the one that brought the Walkers! Kill him before the rest get here!”

The man cocks his revolver, “Step away from her.”

“Stop!” James cries out. He knows it won’t end well, but he has to try, “Nobody needs to get hurt here! I need you to drop your weapons! Then I’ll drop her!”

“You pieces of shit think we’re gullible like the rest of them, don’t you?!”

“We can talk this out, please!” James darts his eyes back to the as the supposed Walker inching closer flashing a knife in his hand behind the man.

“Behind you!” The hostage cries out to the armed man. He quickly turns and manages to intercept the knife, but it had dug right through his free hand. His hand shook voluntarily as Charlie slowly dug deeper and aimed the other knife to his throat. The stranger tried holding the knife away from his own throat by pushing it away with the gun. Charlie was now slowly puncturing the skin from the outside of his hand.

“Stop it! Everyone, drop your weapons now!” James growls. 

The woman butts her head backwards and slams James on the nose. Almost to the point of nearly breaking it, he slips his grasp on her temporarily before managing to slam her onto the ground with all his weight to get an advantage of this chaotic endeavour. Frustrated, he yells out again with his blood dripping from his nose onto her back, “I’m not going to ask you a second time! I mean it!”

Charlie scowls before releasing a knife from the man’s palm and the other near his shoulder. He then swipes the revolver from the man and boots him towards James, stumbling backwards. Charlie points the gun directly to his head, “One more sound from you and I promise you that will be the last one you’ll make.”

The stranger obliges in fear as he tries to close the wound on his hand. James steps away from the woman and grabs her rifle. He despises handling guns, but his hatred for unnecessary death in these situations weighs much more. She crawls over to him and makes a pained expression in sympathy. James pipes up, “We can fix that. Do you have any medical supplies?”

The woman nods excessively and points it inside the closest tent, “I can go grab them-”

“I’ll assist you,” James holds his nose to stop the bleeding as he lets her lead the way inside. They both crawl inside as she reaches underneath the air mattress. James carefully adjusts himself near a suitcase, “I’m sorry. We have to do this. I wanted everyone to be safe, but… I didn’t realize how easy it was to get inside the barn. I know it sounds really weird-" 

She draws out a pistol to his face, "Your kind has always been weird.”

He draws the gun directly towards her, “…Please hear me out-”

“I’m not listening to any of your bullshit, you sick fuck. All you do is try to get by using any means necessary. Whatever humanity you had left has been drained from you a long time ago and we’re here to put an end to your misery.”

Charlie calls out to the both of them outside of the tent, “You get the supplies yet?! Your friend over here looks like he’s about to bleed out any second!”

She frantically looks back at the suitcase sitting beside James and grabs it. She takes out the kit, but immediately has her weapon snatched out of her hand by James. He assures her, “You can have your weapons back once we are done talking.”

They go back outside and the woman rushes over to the pale man. In the meantime, James goes to stand beside Charlie watching them and tells him, “Thank you.”

Charlie whispers, “You’ve encountered these people a while back, right? You said you made sure that they were all gone. Did you let some of them go?”

“There weren’t many survivors from the incident. There was only one left I knew of. I talked to him.”

“You guys just talked and then he promised he’d leave you guys alone?” Charlie questions in disbelief.

“It took a lot more than that, but yes. Without threatening him, I was able to convince him.”

Charlie makes a dumbfounded expression and points the gun over to the wounded man, “You talked to  _ this _ guy and he came back nearly a month later?”

“I didn’t talk to him before. It was someone else. I searched the area for a couple of days and came across him. The Walkers were flooding the area around then too. I helped him escape to go back home.”

“Who did you talk to?” The woman almost completed the stitching on one side of the man’s hand.

“None of your business,” Charlie huffs at the woman.

James explains, “I can’t say. I made a promise to him. He told me people were going to look for him.”

“Look for him? How did you find him?”

“He was originally from the Delta-”

“Where’s the rest of them?!” She barked after she managed to connect the dots.

“We had to stop them. They were stealing kids and-”

“Stealing?! You mean from that school? Didn’t your leader tell you about the agreement?”

“Agreement…?” James echos.

“Marlon promised he’d hand the kids as long as we didn’t bother your little school.”

“You-you’ve been in contact with the school?”

“Yeah, I was there when we got Sophie and Minerva last year,” The woman recalls, “They’ve been trading the kids willingly and never bothered to do anything about it.”

Charlie quickly eyes James in disgust before looking back at the woman, “Now you guys are looking for more?”

“Yeah. Just like every year. That school was going to get emptied out. They didn’t know how to do much on their own and they were all starving. We were actually able to provide for them much more than that school could ever dream of. That place was draining the life out of them.”

Charlie raises a brow, “Look. I can agree the school is pretty pathetic, but you guys are now going to do what? Grab more since you guys are missing a whole crew? Now that’s much more pathetic.”

“So you went and murdered our crew to protect what? Five kids? Did you even consider that these people had families? When they took Sophie and Minerva, they actually tried to keep them together since they were sisters.”

James adds, “We tried our best to get in and out of there as fast as we could to take the kids back. But things got out of hand...”

“Things got out of hand? A whoops to all of those who are trying to fight for our freedom and now we have kids lecturing us on not being fair? Fucking hypocrites are what you are!” She spits in his direction and manages to have it land on his shoe. As he takes a step back, he hears a twig snap behind him. He turns around to see that a trail of motionless Walkers has been left behind the figure who fires his weapon to Charlie’s direction. As James goes to tackle him, the man then cocks the hunting rifle straight at James’ face. 

“Drop it,” He deadpans as James can hear Charlie groaning in pain. James places both guns down onto the ground. He looks over to Charlie who is now laying forward on the ground holding his leg to stop the bleeding. 

“You promised...” James runs over to Charlie to take a look at his condition and he snarls, “You were going to leave us alone.”

The man huffs as he walks closer to the both of them, “I did. I was here to take back our supplies though. However, it looks like your plans changed.”

Charlie is holding his wounded leg as he points the rifle back at him, “Fucking shit…”

Charlie aims the gun right at the man and as he was about to shoot, James shoves the gun to the side. It misses the man by several inches. The other members swiftly pick up their weapons and aim them at Charlie. 

James yells in desperation, “We aren’t here to hurt anyone! I’m sorry that your friend here was hurt, but he’s bandaged up now. We were here to discuss boundaries-”

“Boundaries, huh?” The man raises a brow and points to Charlie with the end of his gun, “So far you aren’t convincing anyone with that wild thing beside you. Keep it under control. Then, maybe we can talk.”

"Listen. The barn was full of Walkers. You guys were the ones who opened it. Right?”

“Yeah, there’s no point in herding them up ‘less you’re a Whisperer." 

James was tempted to explain his own philosophy, but Charlie needed help and he needed to ensure Louis was safe. He needs to make sure that they weren’t going to go back to take the kids again. He pleads, "I can give back your horse and your… cage. But there isn’t anything left. So you can leave once we bring it back to you. Just let me get him back where we came from to stop the bleeding. I’ll bring whatever you guys had left.”

“From all the shit you pulled, you owe us way more-”

“I will bring you guys what you had left. That is final,” James stands up to his eye level and takes a few steps closer to him. The members point their guns at him, but the older man waves them off. James snaps, “Tell them that there’s nothing left here. The people from the school made their sacrifices escaping from you all. They aren’t going to be loyal as much as you think they will be. They’ve been living in fear since the first day. They aren’t going to succumb to it by a bunch of adults who depend on them. You want to protect your family, right? Then go back to the Delta and fight your war! Rather than chase children who obviously don’t need you as much as think you need them! Because all you are doing is wasting time!”

The man pauses for a moment to come up with a response. James then realizes the man was finally noticing the Walkers closing in on them. 

“If you don’t know the answer, then I’ll leave now. You can give it tomorrow at sunrise near the barn,” James picks up Charlie and makes himself a crutch for him, “We’ll get rid of the Walkers for you. Besides, you need your ammo for the trip back.  _ And _ for your pointless war.”

“I’ll be back. I  _ promise _ . Don’t hurt them in the meantime,” James requests as he turns back along with Charlie. They trudge back towards the school in hopes they find Louis on the way.

It doesn’t take long for James to find Louis slumped down behind a tree holding his shoulder with a bit of blood trickling out from underneath his jacket. James reaches out to Louis’ uninjured arm. Louis temporarily let’s go of his injured shoulder to take James’ hand and stands up. He immediately goes to hold his shoulder again and spits out, “I’m sorry I-”

“It’s okay, Louis. I’m just glad you’re alright. Well not really-” James embarrassingly backtracks his statement, “I promise, we’ll get back to the school.” 

Louis notices the blood dripping out from James' nose and the blood seeping out of Charlie's jeans to note, "Glad you guys are still in one piece. Those shots from the campground weren’t reassuring at all.”

“Good to see you're alive too..." Charlie inserts himself into the conversation before he winces once he accidentally leans too much on his injured leg. 

Louis makes a concerned expression as he realizes a new problem, "There's still Walkers around the area. We're going to end up attracting them."

James expresses his relief, "That's good. At least we were able to save some…”

"Good? They're all going to surround us if we don't hurry," Louis begins to walk onwards. He temporarily stops to make sure they were following him. 

James leads Charlie to catch up with Louis and suggests, "Mind if I take the lead?"

"My pleasure. If you know what you're doing." 

"I do. Do you mind taking Charlie? I’ll have to improvise again.”

"Sure,” Louis agrees as he takes Charlie with his uninjured arm. Charlie hops towards Louis and leans on him. 

James analyzes the forest then spots a Walker. He turns his back to face his wounded friends and puts a finger on his lips before turning back to stalk the unsuspecting prey. James carefully approaches the Walker with his knees slightly bent ready to pounce. He takes out both knives from his pocket and positions the handles above. Unfortunately, he used up the rocks that he had and resorted to taking the chance of the Walker possibly turning around. 

He sprints forward as the Walker's back is turned. James goes to stab the Walker, but they turn halfway around to see the oncoming threat. Fortunately, James was able to catch their back with his knife on the one side, although he misses with the other and ends up getting the Walker's arm. They try to gnaw at James in retaliation. He manages to evade the Walker's attempts to bite him with some close calls. He shifts more of his weight into turning the body back towards him with his knives digging inside the Walker's flesh. 

"I'm sorry," James quietly apologizes as he retracts the knife from the Walker's arm and digs the knife inside further. He successfully manages to turn the Walker around and takes another stab with his other knife in the back. He drives the knives upwards and twists them in order to cling onto the skin better. He leads it back over to Louis and Charlie. Louis takes a step back along with Charlie in fear of it getting near either of them. 

"Don't worry. I'll lead with the Walker so it can help block the scent of our blood. I'll get you guys to walk behind me so it will help hide us from them," James assures them both and turns his back to them once more, "You ready?"

"Yeah," They both confirm. Louis goes behind James and has Charlie clinging onto Louis trying his best to avoid his wound. James pushes the Walker forward and leads them back. As they go further in through the woods, they come across more Walkers meandering by. There have been a few encounters where they caught a whiff of fresh blood and started dragging their feet towards them. James used his own as a shield and gently bumped the Walkers in different directions away from Louis and Charlie.

Eventually, they make it to the school grounds. Aasim is the first to see them as he observes the area from the smaller watchtower. He beckons below to the rest of the people behind the gates of the school that they've returned. He rushes down from the tower and unlocks the gate for them. He takes Charlie from Louis and wraps Charlie's arm around his shoulder to support him. Louis clutches onto his shoulder as soon as he lets go of Charlie. James is the last to enter the grounds as he swipes out the knives from the Walker's back and pushes them away from the school. James quickly makes his way past the gate and locks it back up. 

Aasim asks with concern in his tone, "What happened to you guys?"

"Long story," Charlie interjects, "Louis and I ended up getting shot."

Aasim curses, "Shit. James, can you find Clementine and Ruby? I'll get them to the infirmary."

James nods to them, "Sure. I'll catch up with you guys." 

James hurries inside the school and goes directly to Clementine's room. He raps on the door hoping for her to answer. He hears her limp towards the door from the other side and she widens the opening, She makes an observation instead of her usual greeting, "James, your nose-"

“I’m alright,” James rubs the blood off with his sleeve, but isn’t able to get all of it, “It’s not important right now. Louis and Charlie need you and Ruby. They both got shot." 

"Ruby should be near the infirmary. We'll reach her on the way there. Do you know where they are?" 

"They're on the way there with the help of Aasim." 

"Good. Let's get Ruby," Determined, Clementine limps her way forward as he trails behind her. She pipes up, "I heard from Aasim someone let the Walkers loose from the barn... Were they the ones who did this to you guys?"

"Yes. But we've handled it. I made a deal with them."

Clementine scrunches up her brows, "A deal? You seriously believe they're going to listen? They're all liars. All they want is to get to the school and take us all. They could have trailed you guys all the way back to the school." 

Clementine's tone grows more aggressive, "Do you know what they could do once they get here?"

James replies, “I promised I'd take care of the Walkers since they’re surrounded by them right now. And if I gave a few things back that we took from them."

"Like what? The horse? The cages? The hay? That's all we were able to salvage from that attack."

"Exactly. We need to give them back." 

"You think Ruby is going to give up the horse so easily? She's grown attached to her and you're going to-"

"Look. I may have been wrong in the past about uh, certain things. But I need you to trust me one more time on this. Please."

Clementine heaves out a sigh as he makes a pitiful expression, "Alright. But you have to bring the others. You're not going alone."

"Alright. I promise." 

"Good," Clementine and James stop as they find Ruby exiting her room. 

"How can I help y'all?" Ruby greeted them. Her expression turns more serious as she examines James, "James, your nose is bleeding. What-"

Clementine interrupts Ruby's question and demands, "We need to get to the infirmary right away. Louis and Charlie got shot." 

"What? How? Where are they? Are they still out there?" Ruby spews out a number of questions.

"They're in the infirmary. I can explain once we get there. But first, we need to go," Clementine rushes her. 

"Alright," Ruby rushes her way over to the infirmary leaving James and Clementine right behind her. 

They enter the infirmary and find the victims of the attack were laying on the two beds while Aasim pulls up a chair beside them. As soon as Aasim notices Ruby, he tells her, "I've only managed to stop a bit of the bleeding."

"Thanks, Aasim," Ruby beams as she begins to grab her supplies, "Clem and I will take care of this. You and James will need to wait outside." 

"Got it. If you need anything, let us know," Aasim turns to leave and guides James out of the room.

Once Aasim closes the door behind him, James pipes up, "I uh, actually need to collect the Walkers. As much as I want to stay here, I made a promise."

Aasim scowls and makes a rebuttal, “You guys barely made it out alive out there! What makes you think you should go out there again?" 

James’ eyes dart over to the corner of his vision and grab onto his other arm insecurely out of nervous habit, ”Things… didn't initially go well. We were able to get through to them. I just need to do my end of the bargain."

“Gathering the Walkers for them when they were the ones that let them loose? It doesn’t make much sense here.”

“I wished there wasn’t any trouble. But they were scared." 

"You're pretty strange, James. But someone should go out with you. Just in case. I have a feeling you won't listen to me anyway." 

James chuckles quietly, “You’re right… But I am sorry. I have to do this myself. I can't risk anyone else getting hurt."

"We can't risk you getting hurt either. I'll grab Violet and we'll head out there together. No matter what you say.” 

“Thank you," James gives Aasim a sincere smile. He smiles back and joins James.

Aasim and James take Violet outside the grounds. James collects the Walkers as Violet and Aasim watch the area for any signs of danger. Besides the Walkers. It takes them an hour before they round all of them inside the area and lock them back inside the barn. They head back as the sun sets. As soon as they enter the building, they see Clementine is waiting along with A.J. on the staircase.

She walks up to James to tell him, "They're fine now. They're not in stable condition, but they've asked for you to come by later. We put them back in their rooms so they could rest easier since Ruby and I had to clean up the mess.”

“Thank you, Clementine. I’ll check on them soon.” 

“By the way, I got you a shirt you can change into since you got blood on the one you’re wearing now,” Clementine hands out a neatly folded navy blue shirt to James.

He accepts the gift and leaves to his room to change. It’s a bit tight, but he’s sure that this was the best they could do for now. He sighs as he opens the door to go check on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once I update the next two chapters, please scroll back to the bottom of this particular chapter.   
> Thank you.


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